The present disclosure generally relates to downhole tools comprising cast degradable sealing elements and, more specifically, to downhole tools comprising a body and a cast degradable sealing element, wherein at least a portion of the body is also degradable upon exposure to a wellbore environment.
A variety of downhole tools are within a wellbore in connection with producing or reworking a hydrocarbon bearing subterranean formation. The downhole tool may comprise a wellbore zonal isolation device capable of fluidly sealing two sections of the wellbore from one another and maintaining differential pressure (i.e., to isolate one pressure zone from another). The wellbore zonal isolation device may be used in direct contact with the formation face of the wellbore, with casing string, with a screen or wire mesh, and the like.
After the production or reworking operation is complete, the seal formed by the downhole tool must be broken and the tool itself removed from the wellbore. The downhole tool must be removed to allow for production or further operations to proceed without being hindered by the presence of the downhole tool. Removal of the downhole tool(s) is traditionally accomplished by complex retrieval operations involving milling or drilling the downhole tool for mechanical retrieval. In order to facilitate such operations, downhole tools have traditionally been composed of drillable metal materials, such as cast iron, brass, or aluminum. These operations can be costly and time consuming, as they involve introducing a tool string (e.g., a mechanical connection to the surface) into the wellbore, milling or drilling out the downhole tool (e.g., at least breaking the seal), and mechanically retrieving the downhole tool or pieces thereof from the wellbore to bring to the surface.
To reduce the cost and time required to mill or drill a downhole tool from a wellbore for its removal, degradable downhole tools have been developed. Traditionally, however, such degradable downhole tools have been designed only such that the degradable portion includes the tool body itself and not any sealing element of the downhole tool. This is particularly evident because the degradable materials that have been proposed for use in forming a downhole tool body are often highly brittle and are physically or chemically incapable of exhibiting expansive or elastic properties necessary for a sealing element. Instead, the known degradable downhole tools may degrade such that it no longer provides the structural integrity necessary for achieving an effective seal with the non-degradable sealing element.